Parent company of local newspaper files chapter 11 bankruptcy

Freedom Communications, one of the U.S.’s larger privately held newspaper publishers and owner of The Apalachicola Times, The Star in Gulf County, the Panama City News Herald as well as a number of other newspaper in northwest Florida and across the country filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on September the 1st in Delaware Bankruptcy Court. Chapter 11 will allow the company to restructure its debt and will protect it from its creditors while it works on a plan to repay its debts. According to a company spokesperson, a reorganization plan is already well underway. The company says the chapter 11 filing will not affect the operations of any of its holdings including our local newspapers. Readers, viewers and advertisers should see no difference in the day-to-day operations of these businesses. Freedom CEO Burl Osborne said that chapter 11 provide the company with an orderly process to re-align its balance sheet with the realities of today’s media environment."